Video game competition notifications

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are described for automatically sending a popup or other message to another person&#39;s electronic device upon finishing a predetermined goal in a video game. The predetermined goal can be, for example, killing a first boss in under five minutes. The message to the friend can include a link or button enabled such that the friend can begin the game on his device in the same room, mission, scenario, etc. that the first player started out in so that the friend can attempt to duplicate or ‘one up’ the first player&#39;s achievement. Friends who are interested in receiving such messages can be determined from existing social networking sites.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/881,053, filed Oct. 12, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/685,538, filed Apr. 13, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No.9,155,969, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/582,354, filed Oct. 20, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,005,028, entitled“Video Game Competition Notifications,” the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Video games have become beneficial social network opportunities andcompetitive outlets for many players. The skill that one exhibits inmastering a game can lead to new friends who have something in common,and respect from others who have played the game and have seen firsthand how difficult some achievements within the game are to accomplish.The attention, respect, and camaraderie shared by many video games hasbuilt a sense of community around some video game titles and platforms.

High score tables have been ubiquitous in many video games, typicallybeing updated with a player's high score and/or level attained as wellas the player's initials or signature. High score tables are typicallysaved in the cartridge or writable memory of a particular video gamemedium. In the past, one player's high score was not accessible toothers who did not play from the same cartridge or memory device.

Networked video games spread the concept of a computerized leaderboardsystem in which a central server or set of servers tracked theachievements or milestones of players with different systems. Uponreaching a high score, the leaderboard is automatically updated over thenetwork from a message from the console upon which a player accomplishedthe achievement or milestone.

A ‘trophy’ system has been implemented to reward players with a trophy(e.g. bronze, silver, gold, platinum) for achieving certain predefinedmilestones in some games. The trophy system acts as a snapshot of one'sgaming ability and/or time investment. These achievements help playersjudge their skills against others.

Some video game systems have used an ‘achievement’ concept which rewardspoints for completing different video games. Points can be earned byperforming straightforward tasks, such as winning a game. Points canalso be earned by completing hidden tasks, such as finding easter eggs(i.e. undocumented hidden rooms, treasures, and other features) withingames. In the point system, a leaderboard tracks the number of pointseach player has earned from a variety of video games so that friends cancompare each others' point scores.

Networked leaderboards have been found to stimulate game play andenhance interest in certain video game titles. However, leaderboards areoften only followed by those with a high level of interest in the gameand fail to garner a following from users who are less competitive.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure relate toautomatically popping up a small note or otherwise displaying a messageon a friend's or other person's video game console to inform the personabout a milestone or other predetermined goal in a video game that aplayer has just achieved. The predetermined goal can be a goal set up bythe game developer, a gaming community group, or it can be a customachievement set up by the friends. The pop-up note or other message caninclude a link, button, or other selectable element such that the friendcan click or otherwise select it and begin playing the game starting ata specified location, such as the same scene, room, mission, etc. as thefirst player started so that the friend can try to best the firstplayer's accomplishment.

An embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure relates to amethod of challenging another person to a portion of a video game. Themethod includes receiving an indicator that a first person playing aninstance of a video game has met or exceeded a predetermined goal in aportion of the video game and sending a message to a device associatedwith the second person, the message indicating that the first person hasmet or exceeded the predetermined goal.

The message can include a selectable element enabled to begin aninstance of the video game for the second person at a specified pointand/or the portion of the video game in which the first person met orexceeded the predetermined goal. When the second person clicks on theselectable element, his or her own game console queues up the same videogame so that the second person can begin playing and try to outperformthe first person.

The message can go to any device registered or otherwise associated withthe second person, such as his or her television, mobile phone, pager,as well as his or her game console. Multiple messages can go out to aplurality of friends to entice them to play the game and beat the firstplayer's latest accomplishment.

Other embodiments relate to machine-readable tangible storage media andcomputer systems which employ or store instructions for the methodsdescribed above.

A further understanding of the nature and the advantages of theembodiments disclosed and suggested herein may be realized by referenceto the remaining portions of the specification and the attacheddrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates a handheld video game device with a message inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 1B is a close up of the message of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 illustrates a message being sent from a system in accordance withan embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates registering electronic devices according to anembodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a message being sent to multiple friends in a groupin accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B illustrate screens upon which a user can supplycustom predetermined goals in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computer system suitable for use withembodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, methods and systems are described for automatically sending amessage to another person's electronic device (e.g. phone, personalcomputer, television, game console) to inform the person that a playerjust met or exceeded some goal in a video game (e.g. number of enemieskilled in a minute, minimal length of time to defeat the first boss). Amessage can include a popup message which ‘pops up’ on a device'sdisplay and overlays other data on the display. A popup message can bevisible temporarily, or it can be permanent or modal until a useracknowledges the message. The message can include a link, softwarebutton, or other selectable element such that the person, if on acompatible game console, can click the button and immediately startplaying the game in the same challenge area, checkpoint, level, mission,room, scenario, scene, or other portion or specified point in which theplayer achieved the goal.

A “video game” is any interactive electronic game. An instance of avideo game can include a single instantiation or execution of a videogame on a game console. A video game title includes a video game whichis released to the public in a single event but may have early betaversions and/or later-released patches and upgrades. A video game titlecan have related video game titles, such as prequels and sequels thatare released separately. For example, the God of War® video game titlehas the God of War® II video game title as a sequel.

A whole group of players can be socially networked through a socialnetworking system as a group or simply as contacts of each other. Eachfriend or associate can subscribe or unsubscribe as each other'sfriends, contacts, or other relations. Each friend or associate canindicate whether he or she owns or plays a certain video game title aswell indicate his or her interest in hearing about how friends are doingwhile playing that title.

One of the ways that players can hear about how others are doing is tobe informed of certain predefined accomplishments that the other playersare achieving. For example, an accomplishment might be for the player toacquire a powerful weapon, attain a high level, or reach a high score.These accomplishments can be pre-set in the video game by the gamedevelopers. In some embodiments, one or more of the players can set up acustom achievement. For example, a custom achievement might be to killten enemy characters in one minute. In a custom achievement, the numberreferred to above is not pre-set by the game developers but is specifiedby the users. For example, novice users may set a lower number of enemycharacters to kill, and advanced users may set a higher number.

When one player meets or exceeds the achievement or other predeterminedgoal while playing an instance of the video game, an indicator is sentfrom the player's video game console to a central computer system whichtracks the various goals and friends. The achievement can include suchgoals as a length of time that it took to beat a first boss or othermain enemy character, the number of enemies that were killed in oneminute, a highest number of kills in a death match, the length of timeit took to finish a game, and the highest number of headshots dealt in aminute. Other achievements are possible as would be known to one skilledin the art.

The central computer system receives the indicator that the personplaying the video game has met or exceeded the predetermined goal. Forexample, if a player kills ten (or eleven or twelve) enemy characters,then an indicator is received that references the goal and how it wasmet (or exceeded).

The centralized computer then checks its social networking database todetermine who, if anyone, is interested in the game playing ability ofthe player and would like to receive updates on his or her goals. Thedatabase may be a game-specific database, or it can be linked to one ofthe more broadly used social networking sites on the Internet such asFacebook®, Friendster®, Linkedin®, and MySpace® social networking sites.Interest in the game playing ability of another can be determined by anexplicit indicator by the person or the player that the person wants toreceive updates on how the player is doing. Interest in the game playingability of another can also be determined by implicit means, such aslooking up whether the person is a friend, competitor, and/or associateof the player who also owns and plays video games.

The computer looks up or otherwise determines a device that isassociated with the person who has interest in the game playing abilityof the player. For example, the person can have his or her cellularphone number registered in the social networking database. Along withthe number, the registration may indicate a preference for how theperson prefers to receive video game messages. For example, the user maywish to receive a video of the player achieving the goal so that he hasmore faith in that it was actually accomplished. As another example, theuser, conscious of bandwidth costs, may wish for only a screen shot ofthe ultimate kill. As yet another example, the user may wish to receivea simple text message so that he does not know exactly how the task wascompleted and can thus find more enjoyment in figuring out how theplayer accomplished the goal in the first place.

A message is sent by video, text, audio, or other methods to the personindicating that the player achieved the predetermined goal. The messagecan pop up on a screen of the person's registered device, be output fromits speakers, or otherwise be communicated to the person.

The message can include a selectable element enabled to begin aninstance of the video game for the second person. For example, a popupbox with the message on the person's game console can have a clickablelink. When clicked, the link starts the video game in the same scene,room, etc. as what the player encountered when killing ten enemies. Thisallows the person to immediately try to ‘one up’ or beat the firstplayer's score. For example, the person may try to kill eleven (ortwelve or thirteen) enemy characters to best his friend and continue therivalry.

The selectable element can also be an audio element, such as aninteractive voice response. For example, the message could be a spokentaunt, emphasizing that one's friend has killed ten enemy characters inone minute. The spoken taunt could, at some point, ask whether theperson would like to try to best the score. Using interactive voiceresponse (IVR), the person's spoken “yes” could trigger the game to beloaded in the same mission as where the first player started.

The device which receives the message with the selectable element neednot be the device upon which the friend ultimately plays the video game.For example, the friend's phone might receive the message, and thefriend selects a link in the message on the phone to accept thechallenge. At that point, the server computer can remotely instruct thefriend's game console to turn on, spin up the proper game title, and putthe friend's character in the same room as the first player was when hebeat the goal. Alternatively, the server computer could save the firstplayer's position, level, avatar, and other game state conditions sothat the friend's game console could retrieve them later when the personwanted to beat the score.

An “avatar” is a video game character which has been selected among amultiple set of characters by the user. An avatar can have chosen or‘purchased’ features, such as a special sword or superpower. An avatarcan also have earned features, such as hit points, gold, etc. In someembodiments, an avatar can be saved and used in subsequent gameinstances.

The message can also indicate measured environmental stress factors thatare external to the video game which the first player endured whileplaying. For example, the first player's handheld game can haveaccelerometers or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to measureg-loading and latitude/longitude to determine that the first playerachieved the goal while riding in the back seat of a fast moving car ona windy road. The message to the friend can indicate these conditionsand challenge the friend to match them. As another example, the consolecan have temperature gauges to indicate that the player played insub-zero temperatures, or a humidity meter to indicate that the playerplayed underwater. G-loading, temperature, humidity, wind, and otherenvironmental stress factors can be automatically measured by equipmentattached to the first player's game console. Environmental stressfactors can also be determined through off-board sensors. For example, athird-party national weather database can indicate that the first playerplayed on the hottest day of the year so far. As another example, themessage could say that, after four days of straight rain outside andseven hours of trying, the player was able to finally kill ten enemycharacters.

FIG. 1A illustrates a handheld video game device with a message.Handheld device 102 has screen 104 and speaker 106. In the lower righthand corner of screen 104 is pop up box 108 with a challenge messagefrom a friend with the handle, “Superdude701.”

FIG. 1B is a closeup of the message in FIG. 1A. Popup box 108 hasSuperdude701's message with text 110 and link 112. By clicking link 112,the player playing handheld game device 102 can stop his current gameand begin playing the specified video game at the mission in whichSuperdude701 just beat the predetermined goal.

FIG. 2 illustrates a message being sent in a system. Player 202 plays aninstance of a video game on handheld video game device 204. Uponachieving a high score in the video game, indicator 206 is sent fromdevice 204 to server system 210. Server system 210 checks socialnetworking database 208 to see if anyone is registered to receiveupdates from player 202's game play. Upon determining that person 214 isa friend of player 202, and upon looking up a device associated withperson 214, server system 210 sends message 212 to the device, which inthis instance is handheld video game device 102. A popup box shows thechallenge message.

FIG. 3 illustrates the registering of devices in a database. Database208 stores information about the registration of devices such as theelectronic address of a user's device(s). Devices such as game console302, handheld game device 304, mobile phone 306, television 308, andlaptop computer 310 can be registered in database 208. In the exemplaryembodiment, the address, phone number, etc. of each device is stored aswell as the preferred communication format for each device. As anexample of a preferred communication format, a message to mobile phone306 may be preferred to be in the short message service (SMS)communication format, while a message to laptop computer 310 may bepreferred to be in an email.

In some embodiments, specific devices do not need to be registered. Forexample, an email can be sent to an email address associated with aperson, and any one of many devices that can retrieve email message canactually retrieve the email for the person. In other embodiments, aspecific device might need to be registered. For example, handheld gamedevice 304, which uses a proprietary message format, may be registered.

FIG. 4 illustrates copies of a message being sent to multiple friends ina group. Each of friends 414 is shown with a different device, but somefriends may use the same type of device. For example, several friendsmight register their game consoles, while one friend may register hismobile phone. Regardless of the type of device (e.g. game console,handheld game device, television, personal computer, mobile phone),server system 210 sends messages to friends who are registered indatabase 208 upon receiving an indicator from user 202's device 204.

The contents of the message may change depending on the type of deviceto which it is being sent. For example, a message to a television maynot include a selectable element, while a message to a game consolewould include the selectable element.

FIG. 5A illustrates a screen upon which a user can set up custompredetermined goals for his or her friends. On screen 502, one canselect either a length of time to do X or a number of Y's to do in acertain amount of time Z. For example, one can select a length of timeto beat a boss in the video game. As another example, one can select anumber of headshots to perform in one minute.

FIG. 5B illustrates another screen upon which a user can set a customgoal. In the exemplary example, the user has opted for a time to “beatBy-Tor” as a predetermined goal for himself and his friends. On laterscreens, the user can specify the time limit to beat By-Tor.

FIG. 6 shows an example flowchart illustrating process 600 in accordancewith one embodiment. This process can be automated in a computer orother machine. The process can be coded in software, firmware, or hardcoded as machine-readable instructions and run through one or moreprocessors that can implement the instructions. In operation 602, anindicator is received that a first person playing an instance of a videogame has met or exceeded a predetermined goal in a portion of a videogame. The portion can be the entire game or a smaller part of the game.In operation 604, it is determined that a second person has an interestin a game playing ability of the first person. In operation 606, amessage is sent to a device associated with the second person. Themessage indicates that the first person has met or exceeded thepredetermined goal. In operation 608, a note is popped up on the deviceassociated with the second person. The note shows a message indicatingthat the first person has met or exceeded the predetermined goal. Theseoperations may be performed in the sequence given above or in differentorders as applicable.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computer system suitable for use withembodiments of the invention. The figure is a block diagram of acomputer system 1000, such as a personal computer, video game console,personal digital assistant, or other digital device, suitable forpracticing an embodiment of the invention. Computer system 1000 includesa central processing unit (CPU) 1005 for running software applicationsand optionally an operating system. CPU 1005 may be comprised of one ormore homogeneous or heterogeneous processing cores. Memory 1010 storesapplications and data for use by the CPU 1005. Storage 1015 providesnon-volatile storage for applications and data and may include fixeddisk drives, removable disk drives, flash memory devices, and CD-ROM,DVD-ROM, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, or other optical storage devices. User inputdevices 1020 communicate user inputs from one or more users to thecomputer system 1000, examples of which may include keyboards, mice,joysticks, touch pads, touch screens, still or video cameras, and/ormicrophones. Network interface 1025 allows computer system 1000 tocommunicate with other computer systems via an electronic communicationsnetwork, and may include wired or wireless communication over local areanetworks and wide area networks such as the Internet. An audio processor1055 is adapted to generate analog or digital audio output frominstructions and/or data provided by the CPU 1005, memory 1010, and/orstorage 1015. The components of computer system 1000, including CPU1005, memory 1010, data storage 1015, user input devices 1020, networkinterface 1025, and audio processor 1055 are connected via one or moredata buses 1060.

A graphics subsystem 1030 is further connected with data bus 1060 andthe components of the computer system 1000. The graphics subsystem 1030includes a graphics processing unit (GPU) 1035 and graphics memory 1040.Graphics memory 1040 includes a display memory (e.g., a frame buffer)used for storing pixel data for each pixel of an output image. Graphicsmemory 1040 can be integrated in the same device as GPU 1035, connectedas a separate device with GPU 1035, and/or implemented within memory1010. Pixel data can be provided to graphics memory 1040 directly fromthe CPU 1005. Alternatively, CPU 1005 provides the GPU 1035 with dataand/or instructions defining the desired output images, from which theGPU 1035 generates the pixel data of one or more output images. The dataand/or instructions defining the desired output images can be stored inmemory 1010 and/or graphics memory 1040. In an embodiment, the GPU 1035includes 3D rendering capabilities for generating pixel data for outputimages from instructions and data defining the geometry, lighting,shading, texturing, motion, and/or camera parameters for a scene. TheGPU 1035 can further include one or more programmable execution unitscapable of executing shader programs.

The graphics subsystem 1030 periodically outputs pixel data for an imagefrom graphics memory 1040 to be displayed on display device 1050.Display device 1050 is any device capable of displaying visualinformation in response to a signal from the computer system 1000,including CRT, LCD, plasma, and OLED displays. Computer system 1000 canprovide the display device 1050 with an analog or digital signal.

In embodiments of the invention, CPU 1005 is one or more general-purposemicroprocessors having one or more processing cores. Further embodimentsof the invention can be implemented using one or more CPUs withmicroprocessor architectures specifically adapted for highly paralleland computationally intensive applications, such as media andinteractive entertainment applications.

Further embodiments can be envisioned to one of ordinary skill in theart from the specification and figures. In other embodiments,combinations or sub-combinations of the above disclosed invention can beadvantageously made. The block diagrams of the architecture and flowcharts are grouped for ease of understanding. However, it should beunderstood that combinations of blocks, additions of new blocks,re-arrangement of blocks, and the like are contemplated in alternativeembodiments of the present invention.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that various modifications and changes may be made thereuntowithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of providing accessto a video game instance, the method comprising: providing, by a serverto a first computing device of a user, a message about an achievement ina video game, the message provided based on an indication of an interestof the user in the video game, the achievement accomplished by a playerof a first instance of the video game, the message including aselectable element associated with playing the video game; receiving, bythe server from the first computing device, a selection of theselectable element in the message; generating, by the server, a secondinstance of the video game based on the selection of the selectableelement, the second instance using at least a game state condition ofthe first instance of the video game; and providing, by the server tothe first computing device or to a second computing device of the user,access to the second instance of the video game.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication of theinterest in the video game is identified by the server based on adatabase associated with a social network platform, and wherein theinterest in the video game is received at the social network platformfrom the first computing device or the second computing device of theuser.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theinterest in the video game is indicated based on a registration of aphone number associated with the user with a social networking database.4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication ofthe interest in the video game is identified by the server based on aregistration of the user with the server.
 5. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the indication of the interest in the videogame is identified by the server from a database based on an indicatorto receive updates about the video game, wherein the indicator is storedin the database.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereinthe indication of the interest in the video game is identified by theserver from a database based on an association between the user and theplayer, wherein the association is stored in the database.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying,by the server, a parameter for the achievement from input of anotherplayer, the input of the other player received by the server from acomputing device of the other player; and determining, by the server,that the achievement was accomplished by the player based on ameasurement of the parameter in the first instance of the video game,wherein the message is provided to the first computing device of theuser based on the determining of the achievement.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining,by the server, a preference of the user to receive messages about thevideo game, wherein the message is provided to the first computingdevice based on the preference.
 9. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 8, wherein the preference identifies the first computing deviceand is determined by the server based on a registration of the user toreceive the messages.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9,further comprising generating, by the server, the message based on thepreference, wherein the preference further identifies at least one of: atype of the message or a type of content of the message.
 11. A systemcomprising: at least one processor; and memory including instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:send, over a data network to a first computing device of a user, amessage about an achievement in a video game, the message provided basedon an indication of an interest of the user in the video game, theachievement accomplished by a player of a first instance of the videogame, the message including a selectable element associated with playingthe video game; receive, over the data network from the first computingdevice, a selection of the selectable element in the message; generate,a second instance of the video game based on the selection of theselectable element, the second instance using at least a game statecondition of the first instance of the video game; and provide, to thefirst computing device or to a second computing device of the user,access to the second instance of the video game.
 12. The system of claim11, wherein providing the access comprises loading the second instanceof the video game.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the firstcomputing device is a mobile device of the user, and wherein the secondcomputing device is a video game console of the user.
 14. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the selectable element comprises a link to the secondinstance of the video game, and wherein providing the access comprisesstarting the second instance of the video game based on a selection ofthe link.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the first instance of thevideo game is played at a computing device of the player, and whereinthe instructions further cause the system to: receive data about anenvironmental stress factor associated with the achievement accomplishedby the player, the data received from the computing device of the playerbased on a measurement of the environmental stress factor by a sensor ofthe computing device; and generate content for the message based on thedata about the environmental stress factor.
 16. One or morenon-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, uponexecution by a system, cause the system to perform operationscomprising: providing, to a first computing device of a user, a messageabout an achievement in a video game, the message provided based on anindication of an interest of the user in the video game, the achievementaccomplished by a player of a first instance of the video game, themessage including a selectable element associated with playing the videogame; receiving, from the first computing device, a selection of theselectable element in the message; generating a second instance of thevideo game based on the selection of the selectable element, the secondinstance using at least a game state condition of the first instance ofthe video game; and providing, to the first computing device or to asecond computing device of the user, access to the second instance ofthe video game.
 17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise: generatingthe message based on a preference of the user, wherein the preferenceidentifies a type of content of the message.
 18. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the messagecomprises a video of the player accomplishing the achievement based onthe type of content being video content.
 19. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the messagecomprises a screen shot of the player accomplishing the achievementbased on the type of content being screen shot content.
 20. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein theselectable element comprises an audio element about the achievement ofthe player.